Israeli police evict Jewish extremists from Gaza hotel

JOEL GREENBERGChicago Tribune

Published Friday, July 01, 2005

click photo to enlarge

ISRAELI BORDER POLICE escort a Jewish settler family from the Palm Beach hotel in the Gush Katif bloc of settlements in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. About 10 busloads of soldiers and paramilitary police raided the hotel and went room-to-room to remove the Jewish extremists who barricaded themselves inside for several weeks.

AP Photo JERUSALEM -- Hundreds of Israeli police officers raided a hotel in a Gaza Strip settlement Thursday and evicted about 150 Jewish extremists who had barricaded themselves in the building to resist a planned Israeli withdrawal from the territory.

The raid came a day after militant Jews badly wounded a Palestinian teenager in a stone-throwing clash in the area, a mob assault shown on television that drew strong condemnation from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and across the Israeli political spectrum.

"We will deal severely with such phenomena, because they threaten our very existence here as a Jewish and democratic state," Sharon said in a speech. He called the militants "extremist gangs who are trying to strike terror in Israeli society and tear it to shreds through violence against Jews and Arabs."

Before the raid, the army declared the Gaza Strip a closed military zone, citing plans by other extremists to come to the area to bolster resistance to the pullout. The closure makes the Gaza settlements off-limits to all Israelis who do not live or work in the enclaves.

Movement between settlements was blocked during the raid, which was described by some commentators as a preview of the planned evacuation of all 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza, scheduled to begin in mid-August. The protesters inside the abandoned, Israeli-owned hotel had been holed up there for weeks.

A force of 700 officers, including border police and SWAT teams, scaled ladders and broke down doors in the Palm Beach Hotel, going room to room to haul off the extremists -- many of them teenagers and parents with small children -- who put up little resistance.

A few youths struggled with the officers, kicking and screaming as they were carried to waiting buses, but many went limp as they were carried away, and others walked out. The eviction was completed in half an hour.

"The mission we took upon ourselves was carried out smoothly, without casualties and in a very short time," said Uri Bar-Lev, chief of the southern district of the Israeli police.

Some protesters manacled their hands or chained themselves to the hotel building in a show of nonviolent resistance. Others chanted, "Jews don't expel Jews!" Tires were set on fire in a vain effort to impede the police.

"Refuse orders!" Nadia Matar, a leader of the extremists, shouted at officers who carried her off as she held a small child with a baby bottle. "This is a disgrace!"

"Aren't you ashamed?" a teenage girl shrieked at an officer. "This is the land of Israel! Why are you doing this?" another girl screamed.

The swift eviction without casualties eased concerns that the extremists, who had fenced off the beachfront hotel with barbed wire and barricaded windows with steel plates and bars, would violently resist.

The security officer of the local settlement council collected sidearms at the hotel before the police raid, and Matar, in instructions to people in the building, warned them against assaulting officers. "Whoever raises a hand against a soldier is a provocateur," she said to cheers.

The move against the extremists came at a moment when public opinion seemed to be turning against them after a day of violent unrest.

The stoning of the Palestinian teenager as he lay bleeding on the ground, and the blocking of highways in Israel on Wednesday by militant opponents of the Gaza withdrawal, outraged many Israelis, with some drivers getting out of their cars to join police officers in dragging away the protesters on the roads.

"The battle now is not over the disengagement plan, but over the image and future of Israel, and under no circumstances can we allow a lawless gang to try to take control of life in Israel," Sharon told the Haaretz newspaper in comments published Thursday. "Every measure must be taken to end this rampaging. ... We cannot let a small group of lawbreakers impose a reign of terror."

Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra said police were doing all they could to apprehend those involved in the stoning of the Palestinian teenager, which he called a lynching attempt. None of the attackers was detained at the scene by Israeli soldiers or police.

An Israeli army statement said the Gaza Strip was declared a closed zone Thursday because of repeated acts of lawlessness by Jewish extremists who had attacked Palestinians and soldiers.

In several recent incidents near the hotel, militants led by hard-line settler youths from the West Bank and members of the outlawed anti-Arab Kach party scuffled with soldiers and hurled stones at Palestinians, seizing a vacant Palestinian house before they were evicted. In one confrontation, a Palestinian was shot and wounded.

"There is up-to-date information about additional groups of extremists moving toward the Gaza Strip with the intention of reinforcing their comrades and escalating the provocative actions," the army said. Checkpoints on approach roads to the Gaza Strip restricted access to the area.

Maj. Gen. Dan Harel, the chief of the army's southern command, said the closure was temporary.

"The minute the extremists are moved out and we know that there is no risk that more extremists will arrive, we will open it up again," Harel said.

A few hundred supporters of the Gaza Strip settlers, many of them from the West Bank, already have moved to the area in recent months to bolster resistance to the withdrawal.

Avner Shimoni, the head of the Gaza settlement council, told Israel Radio that he was "a bit stunned" by the closure, which prevents friends and relatives from visiting the settlers.

"Apparently what they want is to empty the water from the aquarium instead of taking out the fish," he said.

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TEXT:By JOEL GREENBERG

Chicago Tribune

JERUSALEM -- Hundreds of Israeli police officers raided a hotel in a Gaza Strip settlement Thursday and evicted about 150 Jewish extremists who had barricaded themselves in the building to resist a planned Israeli withdrawal from the territory.

The raid came a day after militant Jews badly wounded a Palestinian teenager in a stone-throwing clash in the area, a mob assault shown on television that drew strong condemnation from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and across the Israeli political spectrum.

"We will deal severely with such phenomena, because they threaten our very existence here as a Jewish and democratic state," Sharon said in a speech. He called the militants "extremist gangs who are trying to strike terror in Israeli society and tear it to shreds through violence against Jews and Arabs."

Before the raid, the army declared the Gaza Strip a closed military zone, citing plans by other extremists to come to the area to bolster resistance to the pullout. The closure makes the Gaza settlements off-limits to all Israelis who do not live or work in the enclaves.

Movement between settlements was blocked during the raid, which was described by some commentators as a preview of the planned evacuation of all 21 Israeli settlements in Gaza, scheduled to begin in mid-August. The protesters inside the abandoned, Israeli-owned hotel had been holed up there for weeks.

A force of 700 officers, including border police and SWAT teams, scaled ladders and broke down doors in the Palm Beach Hotel, going room to room to haul off the extremists -- many of them teenagers and parents with small children -- who put up little resistance.

A few youths struggled with the officers, kicking and screaming as they were carried to waiting buses, but many went limp as they were carried away, and others walked out. The eviction was completed in half an hour.

"The mission we took upon ourselves was carried out smoothly, without casualties and in a very short time," said Uri Bar-Lev, chief of the southern district of the Israeli police.

Some protesters manacled their hands or chained themselves to the hotel building in a show of nonviolent resistance. Others chanted, "Jews don't expel Jews!" Tires were set on fire in a vain effort to impede the police.

"Refuse orders!" Nadia Matar, a leader of the extremists, shouted at officers who carried her off as she held a small child with a baby bottle. "This is a disgrace!"

"Aren't you ashamed?" a teenage girl shrieked at an officer. "This is the land of Israel! Why are you doing this?" another girl screamed.

The swift eviction without casualties eased concerns that the extremists, who had fenced off the beachfront hotel with barbed wire and barricaded windows with steel plates and bars, would violently resist.

The security officer of the local settlement council collected sidearms at the hotel before the police raid, and Matar, in instructions to people in the building, warned them against assaulting officers. "Whoever raises a hand against a soldier is a provocateur," she said to cheers.

The move against the extremists came at a moment when public opinion seemed to be turning against them after a day of violent unrest.

The stoning of the Palestinian teenager as he lay bleeding on the ground, and the blocking of highways in Israel on Wednesday by militant opponents of the Gaza withdrawal, outraged many Israelis.